News & press
Press releases

Press releases

Some features of www.egu.eu will not appear or function properly if your
browser does not have JavaScript enabled, or does not
support it.

If you wish to receive our press releases via email, please use the
press release subscription form.
Subscribed journalists and other members of the media receive EGU press releases under embargo (if applicable) in advance of public dissemination.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is now accepting applications for the 5th edition of its Science Journalism Fellowship competition. The fellowships enable journalists to follow scientists on location to report on ongoing research in the Earth, planetary or space sciences. Successful applicants receive up to €5000 to cover expenses related to their projects. The deadline for applications is 6 December.

Ozone, methane and aerosols (tiny pollutant particles) remain in the atmosphere for a shorter time than CO2, but can affect both the climate and air quality. Yet environmental policies tend to separate the two issues, with measures that fight air pollution not always bringing climate benefits and vice-versa. A new study looking into short-lived pollutants reveals measures governments could implement to substantially improve air quality as well as fight climate change. The results, by a team of scientists from around Europe and China, are published today (24 September) in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

A team of European researchers have developed a model to simulate the impact of tsunamis generated by earthquakes and applied it to the Eastern Mediterranean. The results show how tsunami waves could hit and inundate coastal areas in southern Italy and Greece. The study is published today (27 August) in Ocean Science, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

A new international study is the first to use a high-resolution, large-scale computer model to estimate how much ice the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could lose over the next couple of centuries, and how much that could add to sea-level rise. The results paint a clearer picture of West Antarctica’s future than was previously possible. The study is published today (18 August) in The Cryosphere.

Hair ice grows on the rotten branches of certain trees when the weather conditions are just right, usually during humid winter nights when the air temperature drops slightly below 0°C. Now, a team of scientists in Germany and Switzerland have identified the missing ingredient that gives hair ice its peculiar shape: the fungus Exidiopsis effusa. The research is published today in Biogeosciences.

A new study shows that, from 1500 until 2000, about a third of floods in southwestern Netherlands were deliberately caused by humans during wartimes. Some of these inundations resulted in significant changes to the landscape, being as damaging as floods caused by heavy rainfall or storm surges. The work, by Dutch researcher Adriaan de Kraker, is published today in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

A team of researchers in Nepal, France and the Netherlands have found Everest glaciers could be very sensitive to future warming, and that sustained ice loss through the 21st century is likely. The research is now published in The Cryosphere.

A decade-long scientific debate about what’s causing the thinning of one of Antarctica’s largest ice shelves has now been settled. The Larsen C Ice Shelf – whose neighbours Larsen A and B collapsed in 1995 and 2002 – is thinning from both its surface and beneath. The research, by scientists from the UK and the US, is published today (Wednesday 13 May) in The Cryosphere.

A team of German and Canadian researchers have discovered areas with extremely low levels of oxygen in the tropical North Atlantic, several hundred kilometres off the coast of West Africa. The levels measured in these ‘dead zones’, inhabitable for most marine animals, are the lowest ever recorded in Atlantic open waters. The research is published today in Biogeosciences.

Next week (12–17 April), over 12,000 scientists will gather in Vienna for the 2015 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting that provides an opportunity for journalists to hear about the latest research in the Earth and space sciences and to talk to scientists from all over the world. The press conference programme includes presentations on the latest results from ESA’s Rosetta Mission and on changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. Interested journalists can register on-site, free of charge, during the meeting. Those who cannot make it to Vienna can watch press conferences remotely through a live streaming link.

Researchers from the UK and Malaysia have detected a human fingerprint deep in the Borneo rainforest in Southeast Asia. Cold winds blowing from the north carry industrial pollutants from East Asia to the equator, with implications for air quality in the region. Once there, the pollutants can travel higher into the atmosphere and impact the ozone layer. The research is published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The schedule of press conferences at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which includes presentations on ESA’s Rosetta Mission and on Iceland’s Bárðarbunga volcanic eruption, is now available. The meeting, taking place on 12–17 April in Vienna, attracts over 12,000 scientists and provides an opportunity for journalists to hear about the latest research in the Earth and space sciences and to talk to scientists from all over the world. This year’s programme features debates on water security and on negotiating climate policy. Journalists interested in attending should register online by Friday.

The programme for the 2015 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) is now online. The meeting, which attracts over 12,000 scientists, provides an opportunity for journalists to hear about the latest research in the Earth and space sciences and to talk to scientists from all over the world. This year’s conference features debates on water security and on negotiating climate policy. Press conferences include presentations on the latest results from ESA’s Rosetta mission and on Iceland’s Bárðarbunga volcanic eruption, among other topics. The meeting is taking place on 12–17 April in Vienna, Austria, at the Austria Center Vienna.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalists Mason Inman and Karl Urban as the winners of its 2015 Science Journalism Fellowship. The support will allow Inman to dig into how estimates of shale gas resources are made, while Urban will report on obtaining a new kind of geothermal energy.

Smart agricultural practices and an extensive grain-trade network enabled the Romans to thrive in the water-limited environment of the Mediterranean, a new study shows. The research, by an international team of hydrologists and Roman historians, is published today in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

The 2015 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) provides an opportunity for journalists to hear about the latest research in the Earth, planetary and space sciences, and to talk to scientists from all over the world. The meeting, the largest geosciences conference in Europe, brings together over 12,000 researchers, and is taking place in Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 17 April.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is once again offering fellowships for journalists to report on ongoing research in the geosciences. Successful applicants will receive up to €5000 to cover expenses related to their projects, including following scientists on location. The deadline for applications is 23 November.

Researchers in Germany have used satellite data to map elevation and elevation changes in both Greenland and Antarctica. The new maps are the most complete published to date, from a single satellite mission. The results are published today in The Cryosphere.

New research suggests that Antarctic sea ice may not be expanding as fast as previously thought. A team of scientists say much of the increase measured for Southern Hemisphere sea ice could be due to a processing error in the satellite data. The findings are published today in The Cryosphere.

The General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting with over 11,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, is taking place next week (27 April – 2 May) in Vienna, Austria. Interested journalists can register on-site free of charge. Those who cannot make it to Vienna, can watch press conferences remotely through a webstreaming link. Media briefings include presentations on the latest news from the Cassini mission and an update from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Other events of interest include debates on mining and geoengineering, which will also be streamed online.

The schedule of press conferences at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which includes a briefing on the latest news from the Cassini mission and an update from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is now available. The meeting, which attracts over 11,000 scientists from all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, will also feature great debates on mining and geoengineering. Journalists interested in attending should register online by Monday. The event is taking place on 27 April – 2 May 2014 at the Austria Center Vienna.

A team of Greek and German researchers has shown that the colours of sunsets painted by famous artists can be used to estimate pollution levels in the Earth’s past atmosphere. The results are published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The programme for the 2014 European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly is now online. The meeting attracts over 11,000 scientists from all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. This year’s conference features debates on mining and geoengineering, as well as Union sessions on ‘The Face of the Earth’ (the theme of this year’s meeting) and lessons learned from the IPCC’s findings. Press conferences will include presentations on ‘The 10 years of Cassini at Saturn’ and ‘The Anthropocene: are we living in the age of humans?’, among other topics. The event is taking place on 27 April – 2 May 2014 at the Austria Center Vienna.

Jakobshavn Isbræ (Jakobshavn Glacier) is moving ice from the Greenland ice sheet into the ocean at a speed that appears to be the fastest ever recorded. Researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency (DLR) measured the dramatic speeds of the fast-flowing glacier in 2012 and 2013. The results are published today in The Cryosphere.

UK researchers have identified a biological mechanism that could explain how the Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate were stabilised over the past 24 million years. When CO2 levels became too low for plants to grow properly, forests appear to have kept the climate in check by slowing down the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The results appear in Biogeosciences.

The latest research in Earth, planetary and space sciences will be presented at the 2014 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna, Austria, from 27 April to 2 May. The meeting, the largest geosciences conference in Europe, brings together over 11,000 researchers from all over the world.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalists Sybille Hildebrandt and Chelsea Wald as the winners of its 2014 Science Journalism Fellowship for projects on palaeontology, geochemistry and the origin of animal life, and on soil sciences and forensics, respectively.

Two German researchers used a simple energy balance analysis to explain how the Earth’s water cycle responds differently to heating by sunlight than it does to warming due to a stronger atmospheric greenhouse effect. Further, they show that this difference implies that reflecting sunlight to reduce temperatures may have unwanted effects on the Earth’s rainfall patterns. The results are now published in ESD.

Drivers on a rainy day regulate the speed of their windshield wipers according to rain intensity: faster in heavy rain and slower in light rain. This simple observation has inspired researchers from the University of Hanover in Germany to come up with ‘RainCars’, an initiative that aims to use GPS-equipped moving cars as devices to measure rainfall. The most recent results of the project are now published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

Homing pigeons, like other birds, are extraordinary navigators, but how they manage to find their way back to their lofts is still debated. To navigate, birds require a ‘map’ (to tell them home is south, for example) and a ‘compass’ (to tell them where south is), with the sun and the Earth’s magnetic field being the preferred compass systems. A new Biogeosciences paper provides evidence that the information pigeons use as a map is in fact available in the atmosphere: odours and winds allow them to find their way home.

How far into the past can ice-core records go? Scientists have now identified regions in Antarctica they say could store information about Earth’s climate and greenhouse gases extending as far back as 1.5 million years, almost twice as old as the oldest ice core drilled to date. The results are published today in Climate of the Past.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is offering fellowships for journalists to report on ongoing research in the geosciences. Successful applicants will receive up to €5k to cover expenses related to their projects, including following scientists on location.

Over 80% of the world’s ice-free land is at risk of profound ecosystem transformation by 2100, a new study reveals. “Essentially, we would be leaving the world as we know it,” says Sebastian Ostberg of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany. Ostberg and collaborators studied the critical impacts of climate change on landscapes and have now published their results in Earth System Dynamics.

As the climate changes and oceans’ acidity increases, tiny plankton seem set to succeed. An international team of marine scientists has found that the smallest plankton groups thrive under elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. This could cause an imbalance in the food web as well as decrease ocean CO2 uptake, an important regulator of global climate. The results of the study, conducted off the coast of Svalbard, Norway, in 2010, are now compiled in a special issue published in Biogeosciences.

Scientific research doesn’t often start from outreach projects. Yet, Ryuho Kataoka from the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, Japan, came up with an idea for a new method to measure the height of aurora borealis after working on a 3D movie for a planetarium.

As the world starts feeling the effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and consequent global temperature rise, researchers are looking for a Plan B to mitigate climate change. A group of German scientists has now come up with an environmentally friendly method that they say could do just that.

Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset.

The General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, is taking place next week (07–12 April) in Vienna, Austria. Interested journalists can register on-site free of charge. Those who cannot make it to Vienna, can watch press conferences remotely through a web-streaming link. Media briefings include presentations on the latest Curiosity results, near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, and the consequences of nuclear disasters. Another event of interest is the Great Debate on shale gas and fracking, which will also be streamed online.

The schedule of press conferences at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which includes briefings on the latest Curiosity results, near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, and the consequences of nuclear disasters, is now available. The meeting will also feature a Great Debate on shale gas and fracking. Journalists interested in attending should register online by tomorrow. The EGU General Assembly is a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, and is taking place in Vienna, Austria from 07–12 April 2013.

The programme for the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences, is now online. This year’s conference features a Great Debate on shale gas and fracking. Press conferences will include presentations on near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, the latest results from the Curiosity Mars Rover, and the consequences of nuclear accidents, among other topics. The event will be held on 07–12 April 2013 at the Austria Center Vienna.

Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7°C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future. These conclusions are published today in The Cryosphere, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalists Kate Ravilious and Liz Kalaugher as the winners of its second Science Journalism Fellowship for projects on reporting continental earthquakes and climate-change effects on ecosystems, respectively.

Journalists, science writers, and public information officers can now register online to the 2013 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The meeting brings together over 10,000 scientists from all over the world and covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences.

The world’s largest earthquakes occur at subduction zones – locations where a tectonic plate slips under another. But where along these extended subduction areas are great earthquakes most likely to happen? Scientists have now found that regions where ‘scars’ on the seafloor, called fracture zones, meet subduction areas are at higher risk of generating powerful earthquakes. The results are published today in Solid Earth, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is offering fellowships for journalists to report on ongoing research in the geosciences. Successful applicants will receive up to €5k to cover expenses related to their projects, including following scientists on location.

Most of the world’s population will be subject to degraded air quality in 2050 if man-made emissions continue as usual. In this ‘business-as-usual’ scenario, the average world citizen 40 years from now will experience similar air pollution to that of today’s average East Asian citizen.

About EGU

EGU, the European Geosciences Union, is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It was established in September 2002 as a merger of the European Geophysical Society (EGS) and the European Union of Geosciences (EUG), and has headquarters in Munich, Germany.